People looking to do more shopping ahead of Lunar New Year may be disappointed, as year-end bonuses are set to be less than those last year, according to a survey released by an online personnel consultancy yesterday.
This year, 82.2 percent of companies in Taiwan will award their staff year-end bonuses, down from 90 percent last year, a survey conducted by 104 Job Bank (104
On average, the value of the year-end bonuses is expected to be 1.45 months' salary, also down from 1.62 months' salary last year, the job bank said.
"The shrinking bonuses reflect the state of the economy in 2006, which is not quite as good as it was in 2005," Monica Chiu (
Large-sized enterprises led the decline by offering 9.3 percent less in their bonuses this year from last year, the survey said. Bonuses awarded by small-to-medium-sized enterprises were to be reduced by 8 percent and 7.7 percent, respectively, the survey showed.
By sector, the banking, investment consulting and insurance sectors will offer 2.21 months' salaries to its staff, the highest of all industries, the survey said.
The figure, however, is sustained by the insurance and investment businesses, as banks will offer less than the average 1.45 months' salary to its employees because of bad consumer credit, which hit the banks hard last year, Chiu said.
The health, medical and environment sectors took second, and were set to give 1.55 months' salary for year-end bonuses. Next up were the wholesale and retail sector with 1.51 months, the electronics and information technology sector with 1.48 months and the manufacturing industry with 1.45 months.
People working for companies that are doing business in China are expected to pocket larger bonuses, as 90.5 percent of the companies said they would award an average 1.78 months' salary to their Taiwanese employees, the job bank said.
This shows companies have gained healthy profits from their Chinese operations, Chiu said, adding the higher bonuses also served as an incentive for China-bound Taiwanese firms to secure talented workers.
The survey also showed regional differences in bonus giving. Businesses in northern Taiwan were reducing their bonuses by 7 percent this year, while in central Taiwan bonuses were down 6.8 percent and in southern Taiwan, 4.6 percent.
The survey was conducted on 104 Job Bank's members between Dec. 20 and Dec. 26, and included 2,482 valid responses.
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